An ad hoc network may communicate with each other using multi-hop routing among the nodes, without the help of a specific base network. In a wireless communication network, bandwidth may be restricted and low energy use may be required.
A routing protocol in a wireless communication network, and more particularly, an ad hoc network, may determine an efficient packet transmission path from a source node to a destination node.
According to a conventional routing method in an ad hoc network, a node closest to a destination node from among nodes having received a transmission packet from either a source node or a relay node may become a transmission node in a subsequent hop, and thus forwards the transmission packet to the destination node. The routing method may reduce an overall number of hops in order to transmit the transmission packet to the destination node from the source node.
However, where a plurality of Source node-Destination node pairs (S-D pairs) exists in a network, there exists a strong possibility that the conventional routing method will cause a collision between packet transmission paths.
Furthermore, the source node may require a high transmission power to send a transmission packet to a node close to the destination node. Accordingly, the conventional routing method may not be applied to an ad hoc network where power is restricted.